So, pretty much everyone knows that physical activity is not my strong suit. Like when you have to play Legos on the floor and get ALL the way up into a standing position afterwards? Ugh.
But, this year, Shan convinced me that activity in the form of two wheels might be kind of fun. I began going to spin with her and dragging my sorry self onto the bike every so often. We signed up for two all women's rides this year - 40 miles on Goldilocks and 50 miles on Little Red. Those numbers seemed really doable when I had 4 months to prepare.
Goldilocks was in Herriman in May. The morning of the ride, I woke up to the drum of rain on our roof. Shan and I were undeterred and decided to just give it a go. The first 10 miles were completely miserable. Water trickled into my shoes, and I could feel it slosh back and forth with each pedal stroke. Without mud guards, the water sprayed from my tires pretty much everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. Ahem. At the 10 mile mark, we considered turning back and just doing 20. But some pride kicked in, and we decided to just go for it. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But four hours later, we rolled across the finish line - we had done it!
I was proud of myself, but couldn't really envision doing 10 more miles, and began to dread Little Red. The event was June 1st up in Logan. That morning, our team joined the other 50 milers and began the race. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the course was fantastic. No false flats, no strong winds, just a beautiful blue sky and open road. About 10 miles from the end, I just kept thinking, "I'm doing this! Overweight me is doing it!" 50 miles may not be much to a seasoned rider, but it was definitely a big deal for me. It was a wonderful experience, and I hope to do it again next year!
